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Monday, February 23, 2009

Roti - Indian Flat Bread

Roti/Chapati/Indian flat bread is a traditional bread which can be called as carrier for curries or cooked vegetables or dals. There are amny types and many ways of preparing this roti's. We can prepare roti using wheat flour or maida or barley flour or soy bean flour, black chickpea flour, pearl millet (bajra), maize (makka/jowar) flour, etc. A lot of stuffing can also be used while kneading the dough and can give yummy twist to the normal roti. For example Aloo paratha, Gobi paratha, Mix vegetable paratha, Paneer paratha. etc. The first and major important thing to remember while making roti is dough. The softer the dough, the softer the roti's. Shaping of roti's comes by practice. It took two years for me to learn a good and even rolled roti/chapati. At my mom's place roti/chapati is must for breakfast. Sometimes my cute sis says if there is any competition in eating chapati, Iam gonna come first because I have that many years of practice in eating them. I usually make roti's for dinner. I love the aromatic smell when the roti is heated on tava or frying pan. Even with one simple side dish we can relsih roti's. I already posted this recipe here, but today Iam going to give you a pictorial view of 'How to make a simple roti/chapati.....?'

Knead till you get soft and elastic dough. Leave the dough by covering with a kitchen towel for 15-20 minutes.

Knead again for 5-6 minutes before you start dividing the dough into equal small portions. Dust them with flour and set aside.

Now take one small dough ball and roll into a small circle/triangle/square (whatever you are comfortable of). Brush a drop of oil and fold the corners into inside (as shown in the picture below).

Repeat the same process to all the dough balls and set aside. Now dust the rolling pin and the surface with the flour and start rolling out roti's one by one.

Concentrate on the edges to get even rolled and flat roti. Keep applying plain flour in between to prevent it from sticking on to the roller pin.

Heat pan or tava and wipe it clean with kitchen towel. Place the rolled chapati/roti on it and cook for a minute until the top looks dry then turn it over and cook on the other side till small bubbles appear and chapati starts to puff.

Use flat ladle/kitchen towel to press roti gently while cooking the other side, to get roti's puffed.

Brush the chapati/roti with oil/ghee on either side and take out on a clean kitchen towel and store in a hot casserole or serve hot with your choice of curry or dal.

Last but not least add your 'love' to make the dish 'YUMMY'.

I served hot roti's with simple aloo ki sabzi. You can check out various curries and dal recipes which you can serve along with roti's in the recipe list of kitchen flavours menu @ Curries/Gravies/Sidedishes. Now start rolling perfectly soft and thin roti's.....

That really helps for people who do not know. I do not know my husband managed to eat my roti turned papads ater we got married. Am a pro now..having to do it every single day! after seeing this i feel i wish i had something to look at during that time:-)

Such delightful "how to" pictures! Those rotis look so flavorful, I am looking at the yummy spots where the heat cooked them so perfectly( the little brown spots I love those. I am sure everyone out there love your tutorial!! I appreciate it!

I still can't make decent rotis after all these years! If you eat my rotis fresh off the stove, they're fine. But definitely not as soft after a few hours! :)The cabbage bhaji with chana dal looks super

Wow, you went through a lot of trouble to write this post with all of its steps and directions! I always wondered how they made those roti wraps. It looks similar to Mexican burritos, but the taste is so much different.